Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 19 and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Puchner (US 3,800,396). Puchner discloses a washer and nut retention shell having the elements as pointed to below including: a base wall (64) with an upper surface, lower surface, an inner diameter between the upper and lower surface; a first bend; a first skirt depending from the first bend with an inner diameter greater than the base wall inner diameter; a first skirt outer diameter; a second bend away from the first skirt; a third bend away from the second bend; a second skirt extending from the third bend with an inner and outer diameter. The second shirt rolled/crimped is a product-by-process limitation where only the final product is considered; and the first skirt diameter is greater than the base wall diameter and smaller than the second skirt diameter.
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-18 are allowable. The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: in the context of the claimed invention the prior art does not disclose the shell contacting the upper surface of the washer.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claim 20 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Wilson (US 6,592,314) is cited to teach a cap with a shape similar to the claimed shell. Trorrer (US 2007/0080088), Goiny (US 4,969,788), McKinlay (US 5,203,656), Cheal (US 6,802,681) and Grosick (US 2017/0082133) are cited to teaches another examples of a shell retaining a washer to a nut.
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/FLEMMING SAETHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675